Professor Alastair Ager, the new Director of the Institute for International Health and Development at Queen Margaret University, Edinburgh argues that, despite religious differences, local religious groups have a positive role to play in supporting refugees and others who receive humanitarian aid. Press Release

14 May 2015

QMU hosts successful awareness day for victims of Nepal Earthquake

Humza Yousaf, Minister for Europe and International Development supports University’s Nepalese Earthquake event

IIHD is getting involved through its community via Facebook and through the The Mental Health and Psychosocial Support Network (MHPSS), our QMU-based network which promotes better mental health and community support in humanitarian emergencies via an online platform that allows people and organisations to share resources, build knowledge and develop the skills required to respond to the impact of conflict, disaster and chronic adversity.

The MPHSS has set up a Nepal 2015 Earthquake Response Group, which colleagues can join here

Alison Strang, Senior Lecturer with IIHD, Chair of the core group says:

"We are pleased to share with you this report documenting the progress achieved in the first year of the implementation of the national refugee integration strategy, New Scots: Integrating Refugees in Scotland’s Communities. We celebrate the forging
of effective cross sector, collaborative relationships and we can begin to see the fruits of these in the delivery of actions within this plan."

IIHD PhD students invited to mark Commonwealth Day at The Scottish Parliament

Commonwealth Day 2015 was marked in the Scottish Parliament with a round-table discussion of university student representatives from all over Scotland. Blessings Kachale and Vikash Kumar, both PhD students from IIHD, were invited to represent QMU at this roundtable, and debated the theme ‘Violence against women and girls: Scotland’s response’.

The discussion focused on human rights, FGM and the involvement of men in awareness raising campaigns. It was attended by the four MSPs representing the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association Scotland Branch. This was followed by a debate in Parliament and a reception to celebrate Commonwealth Day.

Alastair Ager presents at Royal Society of Medicine meeting on Syria's health

Professor Alastair Ager, who takes up the position of Director of IIHD in July, was invited to present at a closed expert policy roundtable workshop at the Royal Society of Medicine on 9 March 2015 on the current situation in Syria: ‘Syria’s health: assessing the response and future challenges’ brought together researchers and humanitarian leaders to review health issues ranging from infectious disease control to management of chronic disease and mental health. Professor Ager presented on impact evaluations from Iraq and Jordan showing the effectiveness of programming in protecting the well-being of children displaced by the ongoing conflict. The meeting was organized by the Royal Society of Medicine and the Public Health in Humanitarian Crisis Group of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.

Queen Margaret University (IIHD) was delighted to have participated in the celebrations of International Women’s Day, organised as part of the Twin Town association between Musselburgh and Champigny sur Marne near Paris in France.

Oonagh O’Brien a Lecturer in the Institute for International Health and Development and an expert on gender studies, spoke on the negative impacts of gender inequality on health and included some of the work being carried out by the Institute in sub Saharan Africa and Asia as well as Scotland. She joined representatives from other twin towns of Champigny including a representative from the French organisation "Solidarité femmes Kobané" a women’s group who are developing solidarity with Kurdish women involved in the struggle to defend their town Kobane in Syria in the current conflict and an activist from the Palestinian group Sunflower, based in Hebron on the west Bank.

The event was introduced by the deputy mayor of Champigny sur Marne, Isabel Flores-Racmachers.

23 February 2015

IIHD Senior Lecturer, Karina Kielmann's publication on the impact of ART on home-based carers in Zambia is highlighted in UNAIDS Science Now

‘Deep down in their heart, they wish they could be given some incentives’: a qualitative study on the changing roles and relations of care among home-based caregivers in Zambia.

Background: Across sub-Saharan Africa, the roll-out of antiretroviral treatment (ART) has contributed to shifting HIV care towards management of a chronic health condition.

While the balance of professional and lay tasks in HIV care-giving has been significantly altered due to changing skills requirements and task-shifting initiatives, little attention has been given to the effects of these changes on health workers’ motivation and existing care relations.

Together with Fabian Cataldo, Karina Kielmann has been working on a synthesis review of the qualitative research conducted within evaluations of results-based financing (RBF) schemes in the health sector of a number of African countries including Nigeria, Zimbabwe, DRC, Zambia, and Cameroon. The RBF schemes are commissioned under the Health Results Innovation Trust Fund (HRITF), supported by the Governments of the UK through the Department of International Development (DfID) and Norway through NORAD and administered through the World Bank. Drs Cataldo and Kielmann presented their review at a meeting on February 18th at the World Bank in Washington. This was followed up by a full day’s training to provide guidance on strengthening the place and added value of qualitative research in evaluation for researchers and programme implementers. A further meeting to report results of the synthesis will follow at the DfID head office in London in May.

Professor Alastair Ager joins QMU as Director of the Institute of International Health and Development from July 2015. Alastair is currently Professor of Population and Family Health at the Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University in New York, where he leads a doctoral programme on Leadership in Global Health & Humanitarian Systems supporting mid-career professionals in leadership development. A major focus of his research is evaluation of humanitarian programming for refugee children (funded by DFID, the Wellcome Trust, UNICEF and World Vision), which currently involves studies of Somalis displaced to Ethiopia, Congolese displaced to Uganda and Syrians displaced to Lebanon, Jordan and Iraq. His current research also addresses health systems resilience in contexts of adversity (studies in the Middle East, West and South Africa (funded by UNRWA and DFID, through a ReBUILD sub-award) and the engagement of local faith communities in humanitarian response (through a Luce Foundation award addressing local faith group engagement with refugees in Irbid, Jordan).

Professor Alastair Ager speaks with Dr Bregje de Kok about why he is looking forward to becoming the new Director of IIHD @Queen Margaret University

Alastair has worked in the field of international health and development for over twenty-five years, after originally training in psychology at the universities of Keele, Wales and Birmingham in the UK. He was formerly Head of the Department of Psychology at the University of Malawi, Director of the Centre for International Health Studies at Queen Margaret, and Senior Research Manager for the UK Department for International Development, with responsibility for the agency's global portfolio of health and education research. He has wide international experience as a lecturer, researcher and consultant across sub-Saharan Africa, south Asia, Europe and North America, working with a range of intergovernmental, non-governmental and governmental agencies.

He is a Board Member of the Antares Foundation (supporting the well-being of humanitarian workers), a member of the Funding Committee of the DFID and Wellcome Trust-funded Research in Health in Humanitarian Crises (R2HC) initiative and co-chair of the learning hub on resilience of the Joint Learning Initiative on Faith and Local Communities. He is author of over one hundred scholarly publications. He will retain his academic affiliation with Columbia University on re-joining QMU, with a view to facilitating research collaboration.